Chapter Text
The office was pitchblack aside from the glow of a singular monitor. Clacks of a mechanical keyboard were the only sign of life; the typing only pausing as the noise momentarily transformed into sips of a concoction of black coffee and red bull.
The numbers were all wrong. Her work flow increased tenfold since her company started to use generative ai models as she went through to correct the constant data hallucinations. A long sigh grew as she looked at the false stats that their CEO and shareholders were eating up. All it meant was that it would be another long shift of mistakes she would never be able to fully correct with the rate the AI produced information for the company.
The phone screen lit up with a single text. She sighed before a smile briefed her face at the contact name.
Pyro.
She never learned their real name; Pyro was the name she listed for them. They were nicknamed Pyro for accidentally setting the coffee pot on fire. From the gossip she heard, they stared blankly at it before another coworker put out the flames.
Over and over, she read the text notification.‘You shouldn’t be working off the clock. It’s late. Go home’
Has it really been that late? What time was it..?
One o’clock… She was supposed to leave around ten.
She glanced at her computer and mobile device… ‘I will in ten minutes.’
Ding.
She ignored the notification, quoting company rules.
Ding. Ding.
She silenced her phone as they quoted parts of their contract and labor laws.
Buzz.
She knew she wouldn’t get any work done from this point forward as her phone kept lighting up, and she really didn't want to get fired.
A voice note.
This was going to be good.
“Go home-” Those were the only words she could make out in the message. Audio was always filled with static and background noise when delivered from them. Background noise always varied to comical effect: barking, drilling, and one time it was a blender.
She couldn’t remember a single time they were audible, but she found it charming. The office-worker always daydreamed how they sounded, but it would remain a mystery since they only did remote IT work since she joined the company, and they refused to get a better mic setup unless the company changed the terms of their contract.
Hands gripped the straps of her purse as she got up to head home. Corners of her mouth curved up as she saw a few more voice notes that she would need to decipher later of the mysterious coworker. A blush crept on her face as the coworker worried over her.
‘Leaving now’
A single emoticon responded to her with a smiley face attached to match her own grin and the barrage of messages ceased.
Her head shook. She couldn’t seriously have a crush on a person she barely knew, yet she knew she would be listening to the recordings repeatedly the rest of the night.